# burlesque
## English
### Alternative forms

* burlesk (archaic)

### Etymology

Borrowed from French burlesque, from Italian burlesco (“parodic”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /bə(ɹ)ˈlɛsk/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)

### Adjective

burlesque (comparative more burlesque, superlative most burlesque)
* (dated) Parodical; parodic
** 1711 December 26 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “SATURDAY, December 15, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 249; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:It is a dispute among the critics, whether burlesque poetry runs best in heroic verse, like that of the Dispensary, or in doggerel, like that of Hudibras.The spelling has been modernized.
** 1877, John Russell Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms‎, 4th edition, page 791:Podunk. A term applied to an imaginary place in burlesque writing or speaking.

#### Coordinate terms

* vaudevillian

#### Derived terms

* burlesquely
* burlesqueness
* neo-burlesque

#### Translations
### Noun

burlesque (countable and uncountable, plural burlesques)
* A derisive art form that mocks by imitation; a parody.
    Synonyms: lampoon, travesty
** 1711 December 26 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “SATURDAY, December 15, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 249; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:Burlesque is therefore of two kinds; the first represents mean persons in the accoutrements of heroes, the other describes great persons acting and speaking like the basest among the people.The spelling has been modernized.
** 1683, John Dryden, The Art of Poetry:The dull burlesque appeared with impudence, / And pleased by novelty in spite of sense.
** 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Lisson Grove Mystery”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:“H'm !” he said, “so, so—it is a tragedy in a prologue and three acts. I am going down this afternoon to see the curtain fall for the third time on what […] will prove a good burlesque ; but it all began dramatically enough. It was last Saturday […] that two boys, playing in the little spinney just outside Wembley Park Station, came across three large parcels done up in American cloth. […] ”
* A variety adult entertainment show, usually including titillation such as striptease, most common from the 1880s to the 1930s.
* A ludicrous imitation; a caricature; a travesty; a gross perversion.
    Synonyms: imitation, caricature
** 1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC:Who is it that admires, and from the heart is attached to, national representative assemblies, but must turn with horror and disgust from such a profane burlesque and abominable perversion of that sacred institute?

#### Coordinate terms

* vaudeville

#### Derived terms

* boylesque
* burlesquer
* neoburlesque
* preburlesque

#### Translations
### Verb

burlesque (third-person singular simple present burlesques, present participle burlesquing, simple past and past participle burlesqued)
* To make a burlesque parody of.
** 1988 February 5, Billie Lawless, “Laying Down the Lawless”, in Chicago Reader‎:When the venerable New York Times took my quote in which I described the neon elements as "burlesquing the myth of male dominance" and instead printed "he prefers to describe them as . . . symbols of male dominance" it became clear that dealing with journalists was going to be one long, rocky road.
* To ridicule, or to make ludicrous by grotesque representation in action or in language.
** 1678, Edward Stillingfleet, A Sermon preached on the Fast-Day, November 13, 1678:They burlesqued the prophet Jeremiah's words, and turned the expression he used into ridicule.

#### Derived terms

* unburlesqued

## French
### Etymology

Borrowed from Italian burlesco (“parodic”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /byʁ.lɛsk/
* Audio (Paris):(file)

### Adjective

burlesque (plural burlesques)
* burlesque; parodic; parodical

### Noun

burlesque m (plural burlesques)
* burlesque; parody

#### Coordinate terms

* vaudeville

#### Descendants

* → English: burlesque
* → German: burlesk
* → Romanian: burlesc
* → Turkish: burlesk

### Further reading

* “burlesque”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.